Improving Balance

Balance, equilibrium,
steadiness, stability – a goal for a happy life and a necessity for a dancer. Balance
is regulated by our body in three different ways: through our eyes, through the
vestibular system of our inner ear, and through sensory receptors in our muscles
that provide proprioception.

We
constantly use our eyes to determine where we are in space, and this optical
sense is the body’s most dominant way of establishing balance. The optical righting reflex helps ensure that
we remain upright since it works to keep both eyes constantly on the horizontal
plane.

The
vestibular system helps the body maintain balance through the anatomy of
the inner ear. This system gives the
brain information about the body’s position during movement. The ear canals are filled with fluid and
lined with cilia, or tiny hairs, that are sensitive to the movement of the
fluid. When the position of the head
shifts during movement, the cilia send signals to the brain to activate the
muscles that keep the head vertical.

Our body
also uses proprioception to determine if we are balanced. Proprioception is the body’s awareness of its
position and movement in space. There
are sensory receptors located in the body’s muscles, tendons, and joints that send messages to the brain, letting it know
where the different parts of the body are and how they are moving in relation
to other body parts. The sensors in the
muscles respond to muscular contractions, those in the tendons respond to
changes in tension, and the sensors inside the joints respond to changes in
pressure while those in the connective tissue surrounding the joints respond to the
speed of a moving joint.

These three
systems work together and communicate with the cerebral cortex in the brain.
The cerebellum controls coordination and stores learned information
about muscular actions that can restore balance. The signals that the systems send to the
cerebral cortex are integrated with the information stored in the cerebellum,
and the body is able to right itself when it is thrown off balance.

When one of
these systems does not operate correctly, the body must rely on the other two
systems. If an inner ear infection
disturbs the vestibular system, the optical reflex and proprioception must be
depended upon to maintain balance.

The
proprioceptive sense is vital for a dancer.
A dancer must be able to “feel” the difference between a parallel
position and a turned-out position and needs to be able to sense
how high a leg is being held. When
turning, dancers need to be aware of the position of the gesture leg, and
dancers need to be aware of the position of their arms. Mirrors can be used as a tool when dancers
are first learning a skill, and the eyes and vestibular system can be used to
establish balance when the training is at the beginner level. However, as dancers
grow more advanced, learning skills like tilts and advanced, inverted jazz
turns, it becomes difficult to rely on these two senses, and when a dancer performs onstage
with lights, the optical sense is taken away.
Reliance upon the proprioceptive system becomes a dancer’s lifeline.

Since this
system must be relied upon so heavily, it is important to help students develop
it in the studio. Although the mirror
can be used effectively as a tool, dancers often become dependent on it. Having dancers perform combinations facing
away from the mirror forces the dancers to rely on their proprioception to
determine where they are in the space and what positions they are in. Another way to work on the proprioceptive
sense is to ask the dancers to perform stationary combinations with their eyes
closed. When this idea is first
introduced, the combinations can be simple port de bras exercises and then
progress to exercises that include développés, grands battements and even
jumps.

Our bodies
come equipped with three systems meant to help maintain balance, yet we often
do not use all three effectively.
Dancers can improve and strengthen their technique and performance
skills vastly when they are aware of, learn to use, and practice training the
proprioceptive system.